If you want to make a difference in the world but are wondering where to start, John T. Boal has a suggestion - start with your hometown.

Boal's new book, Be a Global Force of One! ... In Your Hometown, has 202 ideas on ways to make positive changes , drawing on the two-and-a-half years he spent collecting the ideas from 32 states. These projects "are not nice pat-on-the-head pet projects of community do-gooders," he writes. "These are proven ways of creatively enhancing our existing structures and personal rhythms with fresh, human, compelling, and common sense ideas that are readily adaptable."

The 202 programs fall into four areas - community efforts, business undertakings, K-12 school programs, and individual opportunities. Among the projects is PeaceBuilders of Tucson, Arizona, which uses simple tools to challenge hostile behavior and habits in grades K-5. The program has been adopted by an elementary school in Perris, California, where playground fights decreased from 125 per year to 23. In an elementary school in San Bernardino, California, there was a 65 percent drop in student suspensions.

In South Carolina, retired doctors formed a free clinic in their community; an industrial designer in New York City organized paint clubs to paint inner-city schools; a hotel adopted homeless shelters; and members of a weight-reduction program donated professional clothing that no longer fit to women seeking full-time employment.

Boal hopes the book's ideas will help people who want to make a difference but feel uneasy about testing out untried ideas.

"These ideas are proven and work. People don't have to reinvent the wheel," says Boal.